IEA, "Support for Carbon-Free Energy Initiative"

President Yoon Suk-yeol is shaking hands with Fatih Birol, Secretary-General of the International Energy Agency (IEA), after awarding him the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit, Gwanghwa Medal, at the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul on September 2, 2024. Photo by Yonhap News.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) expressed support for the Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) initiative led by South Korea.

Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Director, who visited Korea to attend the "2024 Climate Industry Expo" held at BEXCO in Busan from the 4th to the 6th, held a press conference at the Press Center on the 3rd and announced the "Korea-IEA Joint Declaration."

At the press conference, Executive Director Birol emphasized the importance of international efforts to promote clean energy and stressed that securing energy security while pursuing energy transition requires clean energy and critical mineral supply chains, power grids, and energy storage systems as key means.

The IEA expressed support for the "CFE Initiative," which strengthens cooperation for the utilization of various carbon-free energy sources to achieve global carbon neutrality. Birol stated, "Since each country has different available energy sources to meet its energy demand depending on its circumstances, there is no reason to exclude any technology if it can contribute to emission reductions." He added, "In this regard, I highly appreciate South Korea's policy approach that comprehensively pursues various means including nuclear power, renewable energy, and hydrogen."

Regarding this, the joint declaration emphasized, "We stress that the goal of the CFE Initiative is to expand the availability of clean energy sources to help reduce the costs borne by countries and industries in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050," and expressed agreement that "the CFE Initiative is an effective means consistent with efforts to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5℃ as outlined in the IEA's '2050 Carbon Neutrality' roadmap."

The IEA also decided to strengthen cooperation on the CFE Initiative by jointly conducting a research project titled "Achieving Carbon Neutrality Based on the CFE Initiative" with South Korea.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "While strengthening cooperation with the IEA on carbon-free energy and related areas, we plan to expand discussions on the utilization of carbon-free energy through various international meetings such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM)."

Meanwhile, President Yoon Suk-yeol proposed the CFE Initiative last September at the United Nations General Assembly as a practical alternative to accelerate the achievement of carbon neutrality goals by broadly utilizing high-efficiency CFE such as nuclear power, hydrogen, and renewable energy.